The learning styles debate: do we need to match up learning styles with presentation styles?

Abstract:

This chapter discusses the controversy related to the study of learning styles, and provides an overview of the challenges and research that document the potential impact, both negative and positive, that can occur in the learning process when learning styles are taken into consideration. Some of the criticisms of the study of learning styles revolve around: the lack of a common definition for learning styles; whether the learning style inventories are valid; whether learning styles are measurable; and whether learning style-based instruction results in learning gains. The chapter also examines the debate on whether or not educators should consider learning styles when preparing their courses, and includes solutions/compromises regardless of the controversy for educators interested in using learning style research to modify their instructional efforts.

Key words

learning styles

teaching styles

learning style inventories

teaching methods

cognitive styles

Introduction

The theory, practice, and validity of learning styles and learning style inventories have generated great interest and controversy for more than thirty years. Issues have surfaced from both the educational psychology field and that of adaptive educational systems regarding the belief that it is possible to attribute a particular learning style to an individual. One of the challenges lies in the fact that it is not possible to accurately attribute a learning style due partly to the complex nature of learning and numerous uncontrollable variables. Debate is also ongoing as to whether or not teachers should consider learning styles when preparing or teaching their courses. This chapter provides an overview of the criticisms and challenges of incorporating learning styles into teaching as well as observations, quotes, and suggestions from educators regarding learning styles to illustrate the multitude of issues. The chapter also contains suggestions for solutions and compromises regardless of the controversy for educators interested in using learning style research to modify their instructional efforts.

Definition of learning styles

The term "learning styles" is sometimes used interchangeably with terms such as "learning preferences," "thinking styles," "cognitive styles," and "learning modalities." Cassidy (2004) noted that researchers have yet to agree on any aspects of learning style, including its definition. Here are some of the commonly used definitions in the literature:

 Dunn (1990, p. 353): a biologically and developmentally determined set of personal characteristics that make the identical instruction effective for some students and ineffective for others and "the way in which individuals begin to concentrate on, process, internalize, and retain new and difficult information."

 Cornett (1983): a consistent pattern of behavior but with a certain range of individual variability.

 Fleming (2001, p.1): refers to individuals' characteristics and preferred ways of gathering, organizing, and thinking about information.

 Gregorc (1997, 1979, p. 19): "distinctive and observable behaviors that provide clues about the mediation abilities of individuals and how their minds relate to the world and, therefore, how they learn."

 James and Gardner (1985, p. 20) suggest that individual learning styles are developed as an outcome of heredity, experience, and current environment, and that a core concept of learning styles is "how people react to their learning environment."

 Keefe (1979, p.4): "a composite of characteristic cognitive, affective and psychological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with and responds to the learning."

 Kolb (1984): perceived learning as a circular process in which learning was a series of experiences with cognitive additions: concrete experience, reflection and observation, abstract concepts and generalizations, and active experimentation.

 Messick and Associates (1976): information processing habits representing the learner's typical mode of perceiving, thinking, problem solving, and remembering.

The lack of a standard definition for learning style has resulted in learning style models and instruments that are based on different concepts of learning style, and therefore cause variation in the standards of reliability and validity of psychometric instruments (Curry, 1987). Beyond the definitions, learning style theories contend that individuals differ in how they understand the external world through their senses (the sense modality of stimuli). This can impact on how they best absorb, retain, and process new information (Honey and Mumford, 1982; Dunn, 1983, 1993; Kolb, 1984; Curry, 1990; Felder, 1993; Cassidy and Eachus, 2000; Zapalska and Dabb, 2002; Harrison et al., 2003; Fleming, 2005; Pheiffer et al., 2005). Specifically, how well a person absorbs and retains information depends largely on whether the information was received in the person's preferred learning modality. According to learning style theory, a person who is a visual learner needs to see, observe, record, and write to learn best; an auditory learner prefers information that is spoken and heard, as it is in dialog and discussion; and a kinesthetic learner prefers to learn in an environment where material can be touched and he or she can be physically involved with the to-be-learned information. For instance, a "visual learner" is hypothesized to learn optimally with pictorial or other visual stimuli such as diagrams, charts, or maps, whereas an "auditory learner" performs best with spoken stimuli, such as a lecture.

Proliferation of learning style models, inventories, and terms

With more than 70 learning style models and inventories to choose from it can become problematic to accurately describe learning style characteristics. Terms and concepts sometimes overlap and there is no mapping between different models (and no agreed taxonomy). Some of the possible problems that critics see in the application of learning styles involve the potential to categorize students into a specific learning style and simply label them as such. Another potentially problematic area is the stability of learning style (whether an individual's learning style can change over a period of time). Some researchers believe that learning style is a permanent attribute of human cognition, while others believe that it can change over time.

Popescu (2010) devised a Unified Learning Style Model with the hope that it could address some of the identified criticisms related to learning styles. This model synthesizes characteristics from the main models in the literature, providing an integrative taxonomy. More specifically, Popescu's model integrates learning preferences related to perception modality, ways of processing and organizing information, as well as motivational and social aspects. The criticisms described below pre-date the article that discussed the model. Although much of the criticism focuses on the fact that there is not just one model, other criticisms pertain to the need for accurate measures.

Learning gains?

Even though it appears that learning style research is frequently used to assist in course design and teaching practices, not all researchers agree that learning style-based instruction results in learning gains. Studies involving the effectiveness of learning style-based instruction have yielded mixed results, with some researchers concluding that students learn more when presented with material that is matched with their learning style (Claxton and Murrell, 1987; Sims and Sims 1995; Ford and Chen, 2000, 2001) while others have not seen any significant improvements (Stahl, 1999; Pashler et al., 2008). One of the problems with determining the effectiveness of learning styles in an educational setting is that there are many variables to consider, such as learner aptitude/ability, willingness, motivation, personality traits, the learning task and context, prior student knowledge, and the environment (Jonassen and Grabowski, 1993). A review commissioned by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) (Pashler et al., 2008) was unable to uncover any evidence to suggest that tailoring instruction to these preferences actually produces better learning outcomes.

Krätzig and Arbuthnott (2006) observed that learning style questionnaires can provide educators with information about respondents' preferences or self-beliefs and could be useful to them as they modify their instruction to be more familiar to students. However, they caution educators against believing that those modifications might improve their students' learning, although they might help their motivation to learn. Their results show that although...